


I'll Always Be There

by IronWoman359



Series: Sanders Sides Platonic Week [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, M/M, My sons loving each other and taking care of each other and just being there ok?, they are so good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 19:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronWoman359/pseuds/IronWoman359
Summary: Patton does his best to take care of everybody in the mindscape, even the somewhat elusive Anxiety.  But when he's having a rough day of his own, who takes care of Patton?





	I'll Always Be There

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this and the other works in this series for the Sanders Sides Platonic Week challenge on tumblr, where writers and authors celebrated the platonic relationships between all of the sides, one pairing per day. Unfortunately, I didn't quite finish the challenge, and left Royality, LAMP, and the bonus Sides + Thomas days undone. Maybe eventually I'll write something for those! In the meantime though, enjoy these fics!

Patton always took care of everyone. 

When Roman was creatively exhausted, Patton would be there with blankets and disney movies, always knowing when to talk and when to sit in silence, letting Roman vent out all his frustrations. 

When Logan overworked himself, staying up into the latest hours into the night, or rather, the earliest hours of morning, Patton would be there to massage the knots out of his shoulders or quietly close his laptop and send him to bed, joking gently how if he wasn’t allowed to stay up and watch Parks and Rec, then Logan wasn’t allowed to stay up late either. 

Virgil was harder to care for, because at first he had rejected all of Patton’s attempts to smother him with affection. But Patton was persistent, and he knew that no matter what Virgil said that the side actually was in desperate need of love. So, he didn’t take his usual, direct approach in the beginning. 

Virgil would open his bedroom door to find a plate with dinner outside, a bright yellow sticky note reminding him that he needed to eat, with about 15 smiley faces on it. Finding empty plates outside Virgil’s door always made Patton smile, and one day there was even a little purple sticky note attached, with a short message scrawled across it in Virgil’s messy handwriting: 

_Thanks, Dad._

Patton still had the sticky note to this day. 

Over time, he was able to do more to care for the anxious side. Patton made Virgil a Spotify playlist of calm, soothing ambient music, which secretly became his go to playlist for after bad anxiety attacks. Virgil would come down into the kitchen in the mornings to find his coffee already made for him, just the way he liked it, or a cup of chamomile tea if he came down during odd hours of the night. 

After Virgil told them his name and everyone started to be more intentional in their interactions with him, Patton allowed his full force of care to be unleashed on his dark strange son. He constantly checked on Virgil if the side had been in his room for long stretches, he texted Virgil pictures of black cats and cute puppies and every time he made a new dad joke, Virge would inevitably get a text about it, accompanied by a picture of Logan’s exasperated face if the logical trait had been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the pun. Virgil had stammered out his thanks one day, but Patton had waved it off. 

“Sometimes, we can’t always take care of ourselves, kiddo. And when that happens for you, don’t worry! I’ll always be here to take care of you!” 

Yes, Patton always took care of everyone. 

Except for himself. 

Virgil was the only one to notice, he supposed because he was also trying to take care of them all, though his role was of a more protective and less paternal nature. He was less one for making sure the others were comfortable, and more for making sure they were safe, constantly checking the mindscape for anything that could hurt them, the way he checked Thomas’s life for potential dangers. Sometimes he knew his fears weren’t logical, but hey, logic was Logan’s department. He’d be satisfied once he’d made rounds of the mindscape at 3:00am and determined that, once again, there were no monsters, demons, or serial killers lurking in the shadows to come for his family. 

Virgil noticed little things at first, a delay in Patton’s smile or a strain in his voice indicating that the moral side was more tired than he was letting on. Then there were the larger signs that things weren’t always alright; fewer puns used in a day, leaving the dishes unwashed in the sink, and a far away, contemplative stare when he thought no one was looking. Virgil knew Patton well enough to know that when he got into these moods, asking him if he was alright would only result in an overly-enthusiastic “Of course, Kiddo!!!!!” 

All right then, two could play at the subtlety game. 

On days when the paternal side seemed more tired than usual, Virgil would slip two cookies onto a plate with a note that said  _Eat a second cookie, Dad_  on it and leave it by his door. When Patton’s smiles grew forced, Virgil would turn to Logan and ask him questions about astronomy, cutting in with the odd space pun every now and again. As Logan lit up with passion for his favorite subject, or burst into irritated groans at Virgil’s puns, Virgil could see Patton smiling for real as he watched the exchange. When Virgil caught Patton staring off into space, he would send him videos of kittens seeing snow for the first time, which always received a reply of about two thousand heart emojis. 

One day though, Virgil’s usual tactics didn’t seem to be working. No matter what he did, Patton’s gloom would not dissipate, and Virgil was pretty sure that even Logan, ever oblivious to emotions, had noticed the difference. Why wasn’t it working? Why wasn’t he good enough? Why…? 

Virgil took a deep, grounding breath, pushing the negative thoughts eating at the corners of his mind away. If Patton was in a worse mood than normal, that just meant a more intentional act was needed, that was all. But what to do…Virgil’s eyes landed on the unwashed pile of dishes in the sink, and smiled. 

* * *

Patton was always the first to wake up. After all, he had to cook breakfast for the others, bright and early every morning. This morning though, Patton was having a hard time finding the motivation to get up. Was it even worth it? All the effort, all the emotions, what was the point in even having them if they just hurt him in the end? 

He glanced over at the clock, and groaned. 7:05am. Logan would be up in 25 minutes, he’d better at least have the coffee started before then. With a sigh, the paternal side dragged himself out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. 

The smell of pancakes wafted through the air as Patton….wait, pancakes? Patton sniffed. Yes, that was definitely the smell of pancakes, fresh off the griddle. What in the world..? He turned the corner, and was surprised to see Virgil, the sleeves of his hoodie pushed up to his elbows, leaning diligently over a skillet on the stove. The dishes from the night before had been washed and were sitting out to dry, the sink now full of mixing bowls and measuring cups. Virgil was so engrossed in making sure that he flipped the pancakes correctly that he hadn’t even heard Patton come in. 

“Virgil?” Patton asked, and the anxious side flinched, dropping the spatula in surprise. 

“Geez, Patton, way to sneak up on a guy,” he exclaimed, taking a deep breath before retrieving the spatula. 

“What…what are you doing?” 

“Making breakfast,” Virgil said, then blushed. “Well, I’m trying to anyway. This is the third attempt,” he admitted, glancing at the trashcan, which Patton now noted smelled faintly like burnt batter. 

“But…but I always make breakfast…” Patton said, still bewildered by the sight before him. 

Virgil rolled his eyes, and blew a lock of his bangs out of his face. 

“Duh, Patton. That’s kind of why I’m doing it today. By the way, your coffee’s there.” He pointed with the spatula towards the kitchen table before turning back to the stove. Sitting in front of Patton’s spot was a cup of coffee in his favorite, World’s #1 Dad mug that Virgil had gotten him for his birthday. He took a sip, and smiled. Cinnamon flavored creamer with two teaspoons of sugar, just how he liked it. Looking back up at Virgil, he felt an overwhelming sense of love and appreciation for his fellow side. 

“Virgil, I-” 

“It’s ok,” Virgil mumbled, seeming slightly embarrassed as brought his own mug of coffee to the table. “It’s just…you know that it’s ok to not be ok all the time, right?” 

Patton nodded and sighed, staring at his hands. 

“I’m sorry kiddo, I just…I wanna make sure you’re all taken care of, you know? I guess I just sometimes…forget to take care of myself in the process.” He smiled at Virgil; a shaky, but real, genuine smile. 

Virgil had never been so happy to see that smile, and the tight, nervous energy in his chest eased up a bit. 

“Well you know,” he said slowly. “Sometimes, we can’t always take care of ourselves.” 

Patton looked up at him, and saw that Virgil’s face was sporting a kind, gentle smile.  

“And when that happens for you, don’t worry. I’ll always be here to take care of you.” 

A tear rolled down Patton’s cheek, and Virgil opened up his arms, as Patton had so many times for him. Patton melted into Virgil’s hug, and the two of them might have stayed like that forever, taking comfort in one another’s presence had at that moment, Logan not come downstairs into the kitchen and immediately asked 

“Is something burning?” 

Patton and Virgil pulled apart, eyes wide realizing in unison what they had forgotten. 

“THE PANCAKES!” 


End file.
